i) Canada’s Blind Narrative

Tadyn describes a white winter and a story of childhood idols. A childhood of fun attending school and seeing sports heroes such as the Saskatchewan skating team on the television during periods that were spent working in a classroom. Brianna had memories of taking part in a Terry Fox run with her younger cousin and explaining who Terry Fox was and why it was important. My own story was one of a panicked meltdown in the theater and receiving help from my friends at school. All three of these stories center around our schools and finding belonging there but none of them had a connection to the land or the Indigenous peoples that had once called them home. We found support and community in the education system but the idols we were introduced to were not all the faces that should have been represented. We were not being educated on Canada’s entire history and our choice of figures to look up to were only part of a small group. As children grow they naturally seek out authority to learn and emulate from, they look to anyone around them that they can learn from but they are still limited by what is made available to them. While all of our stories talked about a sense of communal belonging they lacked the representation that the face of Indigenous issues deserved. 

Growing up you are presented with a narrative of a welcoming homely lifestyle that is consistent throughout the country and filling every house with that same enjoyable childhood. Instead of learning about the blood it cost to make that time seem so peaceful, you are taught that your country loves everyone equally. I was raised believing that Canada was the mediator of the world and that it was our duty as Canadians to be helpful as representatives of that ideal, instead of learning about John. A McDonald’s abuse of the Indigenous population. Rather than learning about a dark past Canada represented itself as flawless even to its own youth and failed to inform those same youths about the second side to our history. When learning about Indigenous culture you would be taught about the germ infested blankets and the dying buffalo but it was written to deflect the blame. Rather than owning up to the intent behind actions you were taught the aftermath of them instead. We were shown a destroyed and forgotten peoples past and so that image perpetuated and made them seem as history rather than living victims. 

We as students have come much farther than forgetting our history, instead we are put in roles and positions to empower that change by staying informed. Rather than relying on the narratives we are given being true and unbiased we can choose to be more active than anytime before. With the resources of online databases and the internet, information is more available than ever and so it is more important that we keep it available and accurate. Finding our heroes among the Saskatchewan skating team, Terry Fox, politicians, teachers, and more is as important as it has ever been; however, it is even more important that faces like Jody Wilson-Raybould, and Louis Riel be there with more representation of the Indigenous community that predates our Canada. We have outgrown being told there is only one right way of thinking and in order for us to move past that same one-way mentality then we will be able fight Canada’s racism and no longer allow overly one-sided representation and interests to reign over our best interests. 

ii) Destroying a Blind Narrative with Light

Lovelee Cabrera took a different path with the memorable introduction they had to a small piece of Indigenous heritage. Instead of being presented with an overly European learning environment they were presented with a new perspective of Canada’s Indigenous peoples thanks to the least likely of heroes: a talent show. She was introduced to this new perspective by being in the right school at the right time to experience something that was important to the person performing, a sight that otherwise might never have been seen by Lovelee or anyone else there. “The many sacrifices they have made and their beliefs and teachings in which we use, have formed our world. What it means to be Canadian is knowing we are all equal in not just black and white, but in all colors.” She was able to learn from this new experience and be changed for the better by being introduced to a part of Canada that she could never have tangibly grasped through a textbook that would rather forget them. 

We are only able to express ourselves within the limitations that have been taught and forced upon us through the narratives enforced at school and in life. Children especially are far more curious and will pursue the paths opened to them with a vibrant energy of youthful ignorance, they are however solely reliant on others to make paths known to them. By not presenting young students the books and stories of Canada’s Indigenous history and the persecution its people have faced since colonialism that narrative is perpetuated as being acceptable and normal. By not representing a half of Canadian history that was here before us we are invalidating the lives and ways of living that nurtured both Canada as a people and as an evolving environment. By not acknowledging that we could not be where we are today as a nation without the sacrifices of Indigenous communities and their knowledge to keep us healthy and living in the untamed northern wilds we are saying that it is ok. 

Change doesn’t happen overnight but even after something has been changed in our society its ripples are still felt. Until we see the narrative presented in the classroom change to one more truthful and honest about its own history and the price of actions taken against our Nation’s first peoples we will not feel the long-term effect. However we are feeling the long-term effect that colonialism and its backhanded dealings with Indigenous communities has had and that is something that shows this is a battle worth fighting for. Seeing Indigenous youths feel unrepresented in a country founded on land they have occupied for generations before our borders were established is the ripple that a Colonial narrative has had. Hiding our past to mitigate the guilt of building a nation on the bones of the last while the plot still remained hot from its ashes. Children are only able to learn from a truthful representation of facts and if the introduction of Indigenous perspectives disrupts it then that is just more evidence that Tadyn, Brianna, myself, and more were not shown the full extent of the history of our country. Guidelines four and five of Di Angelo’s “Is everyone really equal?” are important to keep in mind for this reason: until someone who has lived that perspective first hand opens your eyes you won’t know whether you were blind or just ignorant.

Sensoy, Ö., & DiAngelo, R. J. (2017). Is everyone really equal?: an introduction to key concepts in social justice education. Second Edition. New York: Teachers College Press.

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